Brake lights represent one of the many important safety features included on a vehicle. Brake lights indicate when a vehicle's brakes are being applied to signal the driver of a following vehicle of a need to slow down to avoid a rear-end collision. However, in spite of the use of brake lights, the incidence of rear-end collisions remains high. To some degree, the high incidence of rear-end collisions is due to a tendency to follow too closely in traffic. But, the high incidence of rear-end collisions is also due to inattention by the following driver, often in combination with following too close.
Accordingly, brake light systems are designed to grab a following driver's attention. To this end, brake lights tend to exhibit the color red and to be relatively bright when compared to other lights which may be located at the rear of a vehicle. In recent years, the size of these lights has increased, and a center high-mounted stop lamp (CHMSL), also called an upper brake light, third brake light, or cyclops light, has been added to the rear of many vehicles for improved visibility from behind and an improved attention-grabbing effect. While such enhancements are widely believed to have improved safety, rear-end collisions still occur far too frequently.
Alternative brake light operating systems which possess still greater attention-grabbing characteristics are known. Such systems often cause brake lights to flash. However, such alternative brake light operating systems suffer from numerous drawbacks and have not gained public acceptance.
For example, many flashing brake light systems cause brake lights to flash excessively. As a result, the flashing lights become a distraction. After being exposed to such excessive flashing for some time, drivers become immune to the attention grabbing effect of a flashing light and its benefits are lost. Worse yet, when placed in traffic with vehicles having normal, non-flashing brake lights, the attention-grabbing effect of the non-flashing brake lights is reduced and overall traffic safety diminishes rather than improves.
In addition, many flashing brake light systems, whether they flash excessively or not, possess other features which compromise rather than improve safety. For example, many of such systems incorporate notoriously unreliable devices, such as relays and flashers having physical contacts, motors, cams, levers, and other mechanical devices. Such devices often have failure modes which prevent the brake lights from working at all, and such devices are often applied to all vehicle brake lights. Consequently, vehicles having such conventional flashing brake light systems can be expected to experience a total failure of brake lights at least once during the useful life of the vehicle. While some incremental safety improvement may be achieved, the improvement is countered by an occasional extremely dangerous total brake light failure.
Furthermore, conventional flashing brake light systems tend to be complex devices. Complex devices are highly disadvantageous for several reasons. They tend to weigh more, be less reliable, and be more expensive than more simple devices. Often times, they are difficult to adapt to a vehicle and are impractical to install in vehicles having normal, non-flashing brake light systems, except at great expense.